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A state judge has voided an election where a Democrat won by a single vote after discovering that the balloting was rife with fraud, subsequently ordering a new election.
Democrat Henry Whitehorn won the race for Caddo Parish, Louisiana, sheriff in November, beating Republican John Nickelson by one vote out of the more than 43,000 cast, KSLA reported.
The ruling by retired Louisiana Supreme Court Justice E. Joseph Bleich found that “it was proven beyond any doubt that there were at least 11 illegal votes cast and counted” and that it is “legally impossible to know what the true vote should have been,” the outlet noted.
After an initial recount upheld Whitehorn’s slim victory margin, Nickelson filed a lawsuit calling for a new election, according to KSLA. Bleich was assigned to the case following the recusal of three judges due to affiliations with the candidates, according to the outlet.
As per the ruling, two individuals voted twice, four votes were cast by unqualified individuals, and a minimum of five absentee or mail-in ballots were counted despite not adhering to the law, as reported by KSLA, adding that both parties have until 9:56 a.m. on Friday to appeal the ruling.
In a parallel incident in 1999, the Louisiana State Supreme Court mandated a new election in the Red River Parish sheriff’s race, which had been determined by a margin of just three votes. Five votes in that race had been inaccurately counted, as reported by KTBS.
BREAKING: Judge Orders New Election For Caddo Parish Sheriff In Shreveport Louisiana Where The Democrat Candidate Won By ONE VOTE After Dead People Turned Out To Cast Ballots! @ScottPresler Has Been All Over This Race! https://t.co/KC25hvMWFV
— John Basham (@JohnBasham) December 5, 2023
In late October, new election fraud charges were filed against a pair of New Jersey Democrats involving voter registration and mail-in ballots, according to a report.
Just the News reported that State Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office announced that the pair is facing state election fraud charges stemming from 2020 and 2021. The charges stem from races that took place in two different cities. One of the cases has been ongoing for more than three years, the outlet continued.
“According to the attorney general’s office, Paterson City Council President Alex Mendez (D) is facing additional charges in a 2020 election fraud case, after having previously been charged in June 2020 and February 2021,” the outlet reported.
“On Wednesday, Platkin announced that new charges have been brought against Mendez and his associates regarding mail-in ballot election fraud, which occurred during the 2020 election that was mostly conducted by mail,” the report continued.
“Dr. Henrilynn Ibezim, who was a candidate for Plainfield mayor in 2021, has been charged with directing his associates to fill out blank voter registration applications and bringing nearly 1,000 of them to a post office,” the report added.
Prior to a May 2020 election in which Mendez was running for a city council seat, prosecutors allege he collected several mail-in ballots from various households over several days in violation of state law. Though New Jersey permits a “bearer” to return a completed ballot from a voter, candidates themselves are not allowed to do the collecting in the district they are running in.
According to Platkin’s office, Mendez’s campaign allegedly gathered ballots that voters had not yet sealed and checked them over at his campaign headquarters to see if they were votes for him.
Ballots that had not been cast for Mendez were then destroyed and replaced by a ballot with his name on it. Prosecutors allege that the replacement ballots were stolen from the mailboxes of voters.
After the February 2021 indictment of Mendez, he and others allegedly said they would try to contact witnesses who were planning to testify against him and provide them with new statements that would help his defense, prosecutors say.
